Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 576 to 600 of 972 results

Song of Songs 2:8-13

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... have missed if those letters had remained undiscovered and my picture of my grandparents had remained incomplete.[4] Good point. Were it not for the Song of Solomon, we, too, might miss the fact that healthy desire and healthy discipleship are not mutually exclusive. Sex is a wonderful gift. God's gift, even. The creation stories that we read in Genesis affirm it. As biblical scholars recall, the creation story begins with a litany of "and God created this ... and it was good; and God created that ... and ...

577. Ephphatha...Be Opened

Mark 7:24-37

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... limited by geography? Not in Jesus' day, and certainly not in ours. "Ephphatha ... Be opened!" What about sex? Sorry, not even sex. "Ephphatha ... Be opened!" The word of Jesus to the church is loud and clear: "Ephphatha!" BE OPENED! The gospel is not the exclusive province of one group or another, one denomination or another. If we would ever hope to heal the divisions that separate us, we will remember and obey the command, "Ephphatha!" The word is not just for the healing of the church. Remember, it came ...

578. The Great Inescapable Question of Eternity

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... to the Father except through me. — John 14:6 I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. — John 15:1 Each time that Jesus says, "I am"in these statements, he invokes the use of eime, a powerful holy first-person Greek pronoun that Scripture uses exclusively everywhere else to speak of God. Who Do You Say Jesus Is? I direct Christ's question to you personally: "Who do you say that Jesus is?" Who is he for you? Is he your only Lord and Savior? Are you trusting him alone for your salvation as he is ...

579. Becoming Like Jesus

1 John 3:1-7

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

... . I'm referring to the ones who will put out a directory of businesses that are identified as Christian businesses so all the Christians can do business with each other. There's something about that that just rubs me in the wrong way. It makes Christianity sound like an exclusive club. If you're in the club, we want to support you and if you're not in the club, forget it. If that's what it means to be a Christian, I'd rather not be one. Then there are Christians who want to teach alternative theories of ...

580. Can You Carry Your Weight?

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , self-absorbed, one-sided combativeness. These all sound like very bad behaviors. What we don’t immediately see is that they all stem from a common poisoned perspective. Each of those “works of darkness” demonstrate an exclusively “objective” relationship with the world, with “another,” with “the neighbor.” Each of those behaviors are totally self-absorbed — uninvolved and unconcerned with how such behavior might genuinely and hurtfully affect another unique, individual person. “Love ...

581. Matthew 21:23-32

Matthew 21:23-27

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... scions of the temple and the Sanhedrin. But “proago” can also indicate that those who “get there first” take up all the available space, leaving those who would seek to enter later no “room at the inn.” Jesus’ words do not make exclusion a certainty. But they are highly insulting to these religious leaders. John the Baptist’s prophetic righteousness is never higher than here in Matthew’s gospel, and the cache of the temple authorities never lower. Jesus may not have answered the question ...

582. The Christmas Message of Hope

Isaiah 9:2-7

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... miss the opportunity that many people bring. Ignorance is also found in accepting one way of doing things without the possibility of other solutions. Again, we miss the opportunities that come our way with such an attitude. Lastly, ignorance is found in being exclusive. Jesus was ever present to all people, but most especially to those who lived on the margins of Jewish society. He reached out to lepers, sinners, and foreigners. Jesus never asked anyone to pass a litmus test to be his follower; on the ...

583. God Makes All Things New

Isaiah 61:10—62:3

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... the people the Lord wants us to be. Our new beginnings reach out in other areas as well. Some of us need to transform our attitudes toward others, whether individuals or groups. We need to make things new and to realize how much we have lost by our exclusive thinking. We must realize all the new opportunities that will be ours, if we will allow ourselves to be open to what others say and do and how they think. Undoubtedly, for all of us the most important renewal in our lives must be our relationship with ...

584. Anything For a Friend

Illustration

... humble man is hard to find, yet God delights to honor such selfless people. Booker T. Washington, the renowned black educator, was an outstanding example of this truth. Shortly after he took over the presidency of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, he was walking in an exclusive section of town when he was stopped by a wealthy white woman. Not knowing the famous Mr. Washington by sight, she asked if he would like to earn a few dollars by chopping wood for her. Because he had no pressing business at the moment ...

585. What's the Price?

Humor Illustration

Several men were dressing in the locker room of an exclusive health club. A cell phone sitting on one of the benches began to ring. A man picked it up and the following conversation ensued: "Hello?" "Sugar!" "Are you at the club?" "Yes." "Great! I am at the mall two blocks from where you are. I saw a beautiful mink coat . . . ...

586. Bear the Light

John 1:19-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... IS the light. John the Baptist is “a man sent from God,” but he is still just a man. When he is confronted and grilled by representatives of the highest religious authorities, those whose livelihood and lifework centered around the exclusivity of the Temple, those questioners are concerned that John himself may be a new incarnation of one of Judaism’s most celebrated and anticipated figures. The religious establishment was concerned about who John might be. But as this delegation from Jerusalem ...

587. Doing Your Own Thing

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... generation or group. I’m simply appealing to all of us to recognize that the wisdom of the Bible has been established over hundreds of generations. The only safe sex is sex practiced within the marriage relationship. And that relationship is to be exclusive. People make mistakes of course, even the best intended of us, but the ideal remains. As Paul cites from Genesis, “The two are to become one flesh.” Humanity has experimented for thousands of years with various other approaches to the question of ...

588. God Can Turn Your Trash Cans into Treasure Chests

Psalm 51:1-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... pick the most succulent and perfect beans. That Luwak cat eats those coffee cherries and digests them. In the morning, the locals harvest these beans. Yes, after every one of them has passed through the intestines and into the dung of the Civet cat. The most expensive and exclusive coffee in the world is plucked from the dung of an animal. Of course, the beans have been cleaned and roasted. But every Kopi Luwak coffee bean has been in and out of a civet cat. Isn't it amazing how God works! In nature you see ...

589. Would A Loving God Really Let Anyone Go To Hell?

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... across the word Gehenna, eleven of them are on the lips of Jesus. How much of the descriptions Jesus gave are meant to be taken literally is an open question. After all, the pictures are self-contradictory — complete darkness and burning flame are mutually exclusive. The language is symbolic, symbolic of a fate which no one would want. Then what does the Bible make of hell? Scripture is simply not definitive. There is an indication that there will be different degrees of punishment (Matthew 23:14), and of ...

590. Rich Man, Poor Man

James 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

It is said that in Hollywood there is an exclusive school attended by children of movie stars, producers and directors. One day a teacher in that school asked her very privileged pupils to write a composition on the subject of poverty. One little girl started her literary piece like this: “Once there was a poor little girl. Her father was ...

591. Liturgy of the Palms

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29, Luke 19:28-44

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

... experiences with you. We are ready to praise and wait. Amen. Call To Confession It’s fun to be part of a parade. It’s so nice to sit down to a meal with friends. It’s not so nice when we notice that our attitudes are exclusive and that we have internal conflicts. It’s not comfortable when we recognize that our soul values are not in sync with our external behaviors. In these moments of silence, welcome the Spirit to harmonize your inner- and outer-self. Community Confession Holy One — our minds ...

592. Liturgy of the Passion

Luke 22:14-23:56

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

593. The Truth about Warren Buffet's Secretary

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

King Duncan

... that’s what today’s text requires of me. Jesus and his disciples were in the temple courts where Jesus was teaching. They were in an area near the treasury. Scholars tells us that the Temple complex was made up of various courtyards which became increasingly exclusive the closer one came to the religious heart of the Temple the Holy of Holies: the place where God dwelt. This particular story is set in the Court of the Women one of the outer, less holy areas. In this area stood 13 trumpet-shaped, brass ...

594. Strength through Diversity

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... after World War II. Rejection of the Jews as a race, culture, and religion led directly to the Holocaust. These historical events stunted the world's ability to grow for a time. We were all the losers. We need to root out the attitude of exclusivity, the idea that some people, ideas, opinions, and attitudes are acceptable while others are not. We may not agree with certain ways of doing things, but we cannot dismiss them out of hand. Such behavior not only contradicts the message of Paul and his diversity ...

595. The Blood of The Lamb and The Voice of The Shepherd

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... without disturbing a single one of them, while a stranger could not put one foot in the fold without causing total confusion and chaos. Sheep seem to consider shepherds part of the family and the relationship that exists between the shepherd and his sheep is quite exclusive. They develop a language of their own to which outsiders are not privy. A good shepherd learns to distinguish a bleat of pain from one of pleasure, while the sheep learn that a cluck of the tongue means food or a two-note song means that ...

596. The Place of Prayer

Acts 16:16-34

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... companions had come there to share the good news about Jesus. They wanted to start by going to the place of prayer. Originally, you recall, Paul and his companions had not intended to go to Philippi at all. They had been traveling and preaching exclusively in Asia Minor, when one night Paul had his vision of the man from Macedonia pleading, "Come over and help us!" Taking it as a sign from God, they adjusted their itinerary, and prepared to preach the gospel in Macedonia. That meant crossing the Aegean ...

597. At Points of Dispair

1 Kings 19:1-4 (5-7) 8-15a

Sermon

Stephen P. McCutchan

... here, Jezebel." Jezebel wasn't to be easily dissuaded, however, and she pleaded, "But Ahab, your God is so stern and demanding. My gods will add a little variety and spice to the people's lives." Jezebel was urging Ahab and Israel to mellow out and not be so exclusive in their practice of faith. The Bible is a great book but there are lots of great books. Worship is a good thing to do on Sunday morning but there is nothing like a good game of golf on a sunny Sunday. Justice and mercy are great virtues but ...

598. On God's Side Or In God's Way?

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... book of Acts, the early disciples of Jesus are confronted with a critical turning point. All the members of the early Christian community had been Jewish. This was important to many of them. The Jewish faith had drawn much of its strength from its exclusivity. Jews viewed themselves as set apart to be a holy people. Even those Jews who had become Christians clung to this belief that Gentiles were in some way unclean, unfit to belong to the body of Christ. Then something quite unsettling occurred. Word was ...

599. Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... his own take on Leviticus 19:18. Hence he follows up with a second question for Jesus: “Who is my neighbor?” It stands as one of the most important questions asked in the Bible. But the question is not an inclusive, but an exclusive one. Living in a first century Roman ruled country, with widely diverse religious practices and equally diverse ethnic residents, this Torah-obedient Jew wants to know whom he can legally exclude from “neighbor” status. Although Leviticus 19:33-34 had gone on to include ...

600. Luke 10:25-37

Luke 10:25-37

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Showing results